


Obliviate and discover again

by Lotuslia



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Other tags added as story progresses, hp Crossover, my first longfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-04-22 18:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4846319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lotuslia/pseuds/Lotuslia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on an old rp with a friend, Potterstuck Ancestors.<br/>When an information leak happens in the Aurors' headquarters, Simon Captor thinks they have solved it, but discovers the problem is closer than he thought. Without a chance to argue, he is pulled into a huge mess with changes, both good and bad, though they don't all feel so simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Like said, this is based on an old rp that I remember bits out of, and build the fic over those. Though this is Potterstuck, there are no characters from the original series, no Harry or Voldemort or any others, these people know how to build their own dramas in the same world. I am a busy university student unused to writing long things, so I don't know how often I can update, but I'll try to continue this soon!

It was the 1st of September, almost 11 am at the King's Cross station. It was busy with people walking to their trains, most pulling their luggage bags along the floor as they hurried along. The station looked painted bright from the mass of people, all dressed differently and creating a variety of colors in the hallways. However, many people in the crowd wore a simple black robe, pushing along a luggage chest, a few with a pet with them. Many of the people looked excited, others nervous, most of all the youngest ones looked as though they might burst from the cheeriness in their minds.

In the midst of these people in black robes, there was a family of three much like them. Actually, this was only a part of their family, the rest elsewhere for the moment. The tall man led his two children to the rails 9 and 10, and all three of them vanished through the pillar between the signs. Once on the other side, he crouched beside the waiting train and faced his children with an eager smile. When all he got in return was a pair of nervous glances, he rested his hands on their shoulders, sighing through a sympathetic smile.

"You'll be fine. They take good care of first-years, I promise. And your friends are going too." He said, giving a reassuring smile and bringing the two 11-year-olds into a brief yet tight hug, even though the young boy protested about it, complaining.

"But what if we don't know how to do something?" The little girl asked, looking so distraught he had to squeeze her again before letting go.

"Well, that is what you have older siblings for, Fef. I'm pretty sure Meenah and 'Tuna have learned their way around by now." He laughed, the older two were on their sixth and seventh year already after all, Meenah being the oldest one. "Alright, time to go, the train's leaving soon. Find somewhere to sit, and send me and mom a letter when you're there, ok?" He stood, ruffling the kids' hairs. Feferi's was wavy and long, a pretty mess like her mother's, and Sollux' was short and straight, closer to his dad's. Their older brother and sister were in the train already, gone with their friends immediately after their car had stopped on the station parking area.

The two children ran inside to find their friends, and their father stayed on the station to see them leave. He waved as they passed the window in front of him, and though he felt sad as they left for a long time, he smiled at them so they would feel better about leaving. They were just now starting their adventure in Hogwarts, the one he'd gone through years ago. They were so young, so much of their lives still ahead.  
The man was preparing to leave when a flash of brown curls and a golden red tie passed the window, and he saw a familiar face. Older than him by a few years, but still young, as they both were.

"Simon! Si, there you are!" The man - Silas Vantas was his name- spoke with a joyful grin on his face, and stepped down the stairs at the door. "Sorry, I have to go back to the train soon, they can't leave without me after all. I just wanted to see you before we go. Karkat didn't want me to hang around his seat the whole trip, you know. He sees me enough at home, he says. So rude." Silas huffed, in mock offense, before crossing his arms and looking up at Simon. "How are you doing? It's been a while since we got together to chat again. I wish you could come to the school too, sometime. But you have your job, like I have mine, it can't be helped." He sighed, half a smile tugging at his lips as he shifted his weight to the side.

Simon knew his friend well enough by now to let him speak before even trying to get a word in there. He smiled in amusement and laughed at the mention of the other's son, a year older than Simon's own youngest, and very temperamental.

"Hey Silas." He finally replied with a small grin, and shrugged a bit. "I'm fine, things have gone better at work again, after the whole information leak thing. We think we fixed it. Otherwise things are pretty good, the usual." He grinned, and was about to continue speaking when the train's whistle played. It drowned out his voice, and Silas looked absolutely heartbroken about having to go.

"I'll see you on the holidays!" Simon called after him just before the doors closed behind the shorter man. He left for home soon after, feeling a bit sad over the departure.

It had been many years since Simon Captor had finished his studies in the school he just sent his children into. The school of witchcraft and wizardry, the best of the country, or so he'd heard. Nonetheless, it had become like a second home to him and his friends, until it came time to end their seventh years. Moving into working life in the world of magic had not been easy, but they had all worked hard to achieve their goals. For Silas, it had been to teach at Hogwarts, and he got a bit more than that. Headmaster for the last two years now, and he doubted it would end soon, since people liked him a lot. Simon was proud of his friend, for sure. Himself though, Simon had aimed for becoming an Auror from the start, having admired them since he was a child and saw one in real life, instead of simply in a book. It took a lot of work, and more exams than he thought his mind could handle, but he did it. And he was damn good at it, too.

Home felt strange being so silent all of a sudden, without the four children roaming around. Well, the oldest two were no longer children, but he counted them in anyway, they were louder than he thought teenagers would be. At least he still had his wife for company, for the first time having the house all empty for so long. Simon walked into the bedroom to find his wife there, napping. He quietly settled down beside her, close enough to wrap an arm around her, and smiled as she opened her eyes.

"Well? Did they get to the train fine? Don't tell me you had to carry them inside." Connie spoke, sounding amused by her own joking.

"It was fine, they were a bit worried but settled pretty soon." Simon mumbled in response, closing his eyes briefly to rest. "I saw Silas, too. Only for a bit, though. He was kind of in a hurry." He hummed quietly, and ignored the mild frown on her face. His wife and his best friend did not get along in the best of ways, but they could at least be civil with each other.

"Good. Feferi needs to learn some independence; she's nothing like a Peixes yet. Aside from the cuteness, of course." She commented, resulting in an amused snort from Simon. "What? It's true! Don't you go offending me so soon after getting home. Be nice when you're here for once." She nudged him and acted hurt, until he made it all better with a kiss.

"Fine, fine. You're very adorable, is that better?" He grinned, and shifted beside her. "I'm sorry I'm away so much, but being an Auror kind of takes me all over the place. I'll try to stay around more now, so you don't have to be alone. Seems like we got the biggest issues at headquarters worked out anyway, so things should calm a bit."

"Oh, good! So you found the leak? Sounds like a whole lot of trouble over there. Your work is so hectic." She huffed, though the smile stayed on her face as she sat up with him, bringing him close for a second quick kiss.

"Yeah, it is. I can't talk much about it, I have a vow of secrecy as you know, but it’s nothing to worry about." He paused to kiss her back, and sighed a bit. Sometimes it was hard to not be able to tell his own wife some things about his work. She didn’t seem to mind though, most of the time.

"Oh. That's a pity. Oh well." He didn't notice her hand going under her pillow, as she smiled up at him. The next thing he knew was that a wand pointed at his face, and before he could react, she had spoken out swiftly.

"Imperio!" He breathed out the inhaled surprise as he tensed up, his gaze turning glossy and he was swaying a bit until she nudged him to lean on the wall. Her earlier kind smile had turned into one of glee and power.

"Oh, dear. You should know that a vow of secrecy means nothing to me. But before I forget, it won't do to let you tattle about this in questionings, - Obliviate!" She pointed at him a second time, and moved to sit on his lap with pretense sweetness, kissing his dazed form once more. As she cupped his cheek, a faint tattoo of a skull and a snake appeared on her arm, though only briefly in sight.

"Why don't you tell me more about this leak and your work now, love?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are slowly set into motion.

It felt like no time had passed at all, but when Simon stirred awake again it was already the early hours between morning and noon. He didn’t remember going to sleep, or really anything else after his arrival either, but there he was. Lying in bed with his wife beside him, still asleep. Nothing seemed to be wrong on the surface of things, but why then could he not remember anything? He wasn’t even sure if he’d spoken to Connie before sleeping. Had he really been so tired?

He got up silently trying not to wake her, and stepped into the hallway to be met with a familiar owl holding a messy looking letter, titled ‘Mom & Dad’ instead of their names. The cover was decorated with small drawings of sealife, and he couldn’t help but smile as he picked it up.

“Thanks, Biclops.” He mumbled as he held a hand out for the owl to perch onto, carrying it and the letter to the kitchen, giving the flying creature a light pat on the back feathers. It was Sollux’s owl now, previously Simon’s but he’d given it to the boy to take along, since they still had Connie’s owl to use for mail transportation.

He knew Biclops was a funny name for an owl, but he’d had the animal since he was a child (it was an old owl, but still doing well thanks to Connie’s care), and young Simon had had an interest in cyclops and such things. He’d decided that since his owl had two eyes, it was to be called bi-clops. Silly child he’d been, but creative. Connie still teased him about it occasionally, nudging his side and they laughed about it for a moment. Feferi had wanted a cat with her, after being told that no, she could not take a cuttlefish, so now the twins together used the old owl for their mail.

He paused to set the letter down on the table, and was startled by the owl spreading its wings slightly, making a noise of disgruntlement and impatience. It received a frustrated yet mild glare and a huff from Simon. “Shoosh, I’m getting your treats, just wait a sec.” The owl calmed with his words, and nudged his hand expectantly until he picked up a small pouch with little bits of snacks for birds, giving a few to it.

“You can hang around the house now, we’ll give you some return mail later.” He spoke, and flicked his wrist lightly, the owl flying off into another room to settle in its usual spot.

Simon had just barely managed to sit down when Connie walked into the kitchen as well, yawning and still in her pajamas like him. He looked over and showed her the letter, a small smile ghosting on his lips.

“Morning. I thought I heard an owl, is it from the kids?” She walked sleepily to his side, pulling a second chair out and sitting nearby. “Clearly it is. That can’t be anyone but Feferi.” She chuckled when she saw the doodles on the letter case. “Well, open it.”

He did as asked, and pulled two folded letters out from the case, both written in different handwritings, from each of the younger kids. Meenah and Mituna hadn’t bothered writing about their arrival in years, they were so well-mixed into the mass of students in their houses that they needed no worrying from their parents anymore. Naturally, they wrote sometimes as well, but not as often as they had in their first and second years.

He unfolded Feferi’s letter first, the text much clearer than her twin brother’s. The letter started with her usual greetings, but then switched to simply reading _“We’re in different houses!!! 38((”_ with a clearly distressed tone. She continued for a bit by worrying over their separation and asking what to do, but then seemed to settle down and just tell of their first day. It seemed she had some people in the house she considered friends already. She had always been very quick in making friends after all.

Simon felt a bit more relieved by this, and turned to the other letter when he felt a hand move over his shoulders, Connie settling to rest against his side. Compared to Feferi’s letter, Sollux seemed much calmer about everything, simply stating that _“AA’s in Hufflepuff with me, but FF was put to Slytherin.”_ and then going on briefly about his day with messy letters. They’d seen the older students practice Quidditch, apparently. Having been a Chaser in the school team himself, Simon easily related to Sollux’s excitement about the topic.

“Looks like they’re following in our footsteps too. Interesting.” Simon mumbled, smiling a bit as he looked over the letters once more before setting them away. Then he was free to rest his head against Connie’s, in return, and relaxed easily.

“I’d have been surprised if they didn’t. Feferi was kind of a wild card though, she could have been more like you and go to Hufflepuff too, she’s not so much like me in personality.” She spoke, yawning and closing her eyes once she felt the weight against her head.

He simply nodded, giving a hum of agreement. The difference between the two Peixes girls was amazing, Meenah much closer to Connie (if not a wilder personality than her, even) and Feferi being much calmer and kinder in general. Nonetheless, both of them were loved by their family just the same, even if one needed a bit more care than the other, due to her young age. Simon was just glad the younger children were calmer than their older siblings, since he and Connie had had their hands full with the two when they were as young as the twins were now.

For a moment he stayed quiet, just enjoying their quiet moment. But then, his worry took over and he had to speak, keeping his voice quiet and even but showing the nervousness through it still. She knew him well enough to be able to tell, by now. They’d been together since their school years, after all. “…Connie? Yesterday, did I talk to you before sleeping?” He mumbled, brows furrowing as he struggled to remember, to no success.

She frowned, and opened her eyes, tutting at him lightly. “You don’t remember? Si, dear, is this another of those memory blanks? You’re getting them so much lately.” She sighed as he nodded defeatedly, and cupped his cheek lightly, kissing the other side fondly.

“You were very tired when you came home, but you did tell me how things went at the station. It was brief, I let you sleep soon after and you were out like a light, silly.”  She smiled a bit at the teasing tone, and seemed relieved when he got a small smile on his lips as well.

“Yeah, I… I have no idea why it’s lost to me. All I remember is driving home.” He shook his head, looking distracted even as he spoke of it, feeling weird with the memory loss. It was too often, his mates at work were getting worried too, since he’d mentioned it a few times. He knew with the danger dwelling around the Aurors this was anything but a good thing, and he knew they were simply waiting in terror for the day when he’d have a blackout during work. He was hoping that day would never come, but couldn’t argue that he wasn’t scared as well.

He shook away the nervous feeling and squeezed Connie lightly against his side. “No matter, let’s write back to the kids.” He spoke quietly, watching her nod lightly and pick up the quill and some paper.

\----

Time passed, letters were exchanged every week, sometimes more often if the twins wanted to tell about a special occasion at the school. Once, they sent their parents a letter full of candy from Honeydukes, a part of the pile that had been bought by Meenah and Mituna for their little siblings. It was clear both the twins couldn’t wait for their third year, when they could go to the little town of Hogsmeade themselves. Their tones in the letters gave that excitement away easily.

They’d made friends quickly, though naturally some kids knew them already, like Silas’ and Dessie’s kids for example. Feferi, though worried at first, had grown to like the Slytherin kids quite a bit, they weren’t as intimidating as she’d thought at the start. Sollux on the other hand felt like home at the Hufflepuff’s house, though he occasionally wondered in his letters if he’d have made a better Ravenclaw after all.

Connie and Simon learned to live in the quiet house together again, continuing work and life at home, waiting for the holidays so they could see their kids again. Sometimes Simon came back to an empty house, Connie gone to refill her potion supplies in Diagon Alley or just out for a walk, and occasionally he made a small trip to check out a new location at work, but never staying too long, not like before.

Simon had more blanks in his memory in the next few weeks, and on the start of the second month, he startled awake in the middle of setting the table, realizing the plates were shattered on the floor by his feet. Connie was standing in front of him with a slight frantic look, a hand on his forehead.

“You looked like you were sleepwalking,” she said, and brushed his hair back from his face as he caught his breath from holding it in fear. He didn’t think enough in his confused state to pay attention to the wand sticking out of her back pocket, and simply leaned into the offered hug, holding onto her for a long while, only moving away once they both smelled the food burning on the stove, prompting them to move again and start over.

It was a few days later that Simon received a letter from the Auror headquarters, closed with a spell and a seal. Intimidating as it was, even worse was the text in it, the letter itself.

_“Dear Simon Captor. We contact you on this unfortunate day to call you in for questioning by the suspicion of the continuing information leak. Please arrive to the Headquarters on the coming Wednesday, at 14:00 sharp. Do not bring anything but yourself.”_

That was two days from now.

He trusted the people he worked with, and knew this would be a simple procedure, but still he felt like being sick on the spot. Not because he was scared of the procedure, but because he knew how suspicious his memory blanks were continuing to be. He didn’t believe himself to have – even unknowingly – told anyone anything, he’d been home every time, after all. But he knew they would catch onto it, and he would be in big trouble. They could even kick him out of the Aurors, if the suspicion grew enough. Just the thought made him feel faint, he’d worked so hard to get there, and now it was all hanging on a thread.

This time he free-willingly told Connie about what was to come (nobody had told him not to, after all), and her expression was strangely relieved. Of course she reassured him and they spent the rest of the night settled together, but he thought she seemed… happy, that he could end up leaving the Aurors. She tried to hide it, but he knew her just as well as she knew him, so he could see it well enough.

But then again, she had always said out loud her worries of it being dangerous for him, and telling him he should spend more time home with her. He understood her point, but couldn’t help being upset by her stance in this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plot starts to form, people aren't very happy.

Wednesday morning came slowly, crawling closer like a poisonous snake, putting both of their nerves to a test. Time felt like it didn’t pass at all at times, and both Simon and Connie were constantly on the edge with frustration. 

Connie kept talking with that overly sweet tone of hers about how good it would be to have him finally out of the aurors’ groups, out of the danger and back home. But however much Simon hoped for a safe life with his family, he didn’t take well to the potential of having his dream ripped away just like that, when he’d worked to achieve it for years upon years. He couldn’t understand Connie’s point of view at all, and she was unmovable from her opinion, resulting in some rather explosive conversations in the house.

But once the time came for him to leave for the questioning, they were both agreeing on one thing at least. Things didn’t seem good for him.

Simon hadn’t even told the children yet, he didn’t want them to worry in case this went well, and if it didn’t… well, he could always inform them once he returned home. It made more sense to have the whole explanation from beginning to the end in one place, after all. 

“Be careful now. It’s a questioning, sure, but don’t let them push you around too much.” Connie spoke quietly as she hugged and kissed him for quick farewells, fortunately now having left her comments about his job behind for the moment. Simon couldn’t be more grateful for that, he was stressed enough as it was.

“Yeah, I’ll try.” He replied, giving a small smile and a shrug before walking over to the fireplace and stepping through the fire. The transportation had always made him feel a bit dizzy when he arrived, so he made sure to be a few minutes early to get a chance to settle his head again. Almost immediately after he arrived however, Simon was whisked away to the lower floors of the headquarters and sat into a chair in the middle of the room, a small fancy bottle barely the height of one finger sitting on the armrest. He could recognize it with ease. Veritaserum.

Figures. If they wanted the truth out of him, what better way?

The only downside of the serum was that it only made the user tell what they /thought/ was true, and since Simon had not the slightest clue what was going on with him and his memory, it likely wouldn’t be much of a help. Still, with a light sigh and a prompting nod from his boss, he took the container and quietly drank the three drops required for it to work. Looking his boss in the eye was hard, but he managed to settle his nerves for now and turned to face him properly, waiting. And he did not have to wait long. 

“Simon Captor. I assume you are aware of how this works? We want the truth, and you should do your best to cooperate. Understood?” The older man spoke, his face blank but a hint lingered on his tone of voice that he knew more than he let on. It made Simon uneasy, but he simply nodded in return. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Then, let’s begin.“ The man smiled, though his face lacked kindness in this moment, whereas Simon knew he was capable of the act itself, having been in fairly good ways of speaking with him until now. For the first hour or so, they went through the basic drill of questions that Simon had known to expect. Do you have relations to the death eaters, do you support their ways in any way, and a wide variety of everything else, the same questions often asked in multiple different ways, in case he slipped with his words at anytime. For his luck and relief, he didn’t. As much as his brain was telling him to flee and hide, he gave in to the veritaserum and just rolled with the questions as long as they could think of new ones, preferring to get this done calmly. 

After that he was tested for any spells, just in case he’d been charmed to resist some ways of their questioning. Once they found nothing and there was a moment of quiet, Simon thought he could leave, but instead he was told to sit back down, the boss receiving a confused look from the Captor. “I thought-“ He started, but ended up interrupted by his boss, who seemed even more stern than before, which honestly was starting to freak him out.

“That we were done? No, not quite yet, unfortunately.” The man spoke, frowning at him. “I do wish I could trust your word, Simon, but I cannot. Do you know why?”

When Simon shook his head nervously, eyes wide but willing himself silent, he continued. 

“The serum proved to us that you do not know what you have done, but it is not the only proof we have, and not all of it is pointing you to innocence.” He sighed, while Simon looked outright panicky, dreading this conversation more than anything. “We have been suspecting a handful of our workers for a while now, but your memory blanks have taken you to the top of the list. Sure, they can be unrelated, but I do not think you are that lucky just now, boy. We had a system to find out if we were right, and it gave us a sure answer.” 

“A… a system? What-?” He started, but quieted down once he saw the tired gaze of his boss. “…Sorry.”

“You’d better be. After the last leak we had, we came up with a way to find out who was the source. Remember the last briefing you got about the meeting of the council? Secret place, which you were told was in Hogsmeade. Well, no meeting took place. This place we told you, it was a different one for each of our suspects, not one of you got the same one as another. And guess what, Captor?” Oh, he could guess, scooting back on the chair as his boss walked closer with fiery eyes. “Guess where the death eaters attacked first? HOGSMEADE!” He ended up yelling, Simon absolutely terrified of the situation at hand now.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I have no memory of telling anyone, I don’t even know any death-eaters, you got that out of me in the questioning with veritaserum already!” He knew it was true that he must be the cause of the leak now, but his instincts told him to try and get out of this once more. 

“I know you didn’t.” The older man answered more calmly this time, a hint of pity in his eyes. “The most likely reason behind this is that you were hexed to give out the information. Most likely it was done with a mix of the Imperius and Obliviatus curses, from someone who can easily drop your guard.” He gave a pointed look at Simon, who had started to look absolutely livid the more his boss spoke.

“Are you accusing my wife for using the unforgivable-“

“YES!” The yell managed to stop Simon’s fury for the moment, and he paused to look and listen once more, taking a deep breath even as his hands shook like leaves.

“Yes, with proof I am accusing your wife of using you to get information for her side. Most likely she is a death eater herself. I do not doubt her romantic ties with you, but she is certainly at fault here, no matter how you look at this. We advise you not to approach her with the topic before we’ve got the situation solved. If possible, act like you know nothing when you get home. It is safer for you.”

Simon looked down, knowing it was ridiculous to keep arguing with such proof, and honestly, he’d been suspicious himself, he just didn’t want to admit it. “What about my job?” He asked quietly, closing his eyes for a bit, settling his nerves the best he could.

“I’m afraid you have proven too susceptible to mind controlling hexes and spells, so we cannot safely keep you in our numbers. You may still communicate with us as before, but no more details or jobs will be given to you after today, you will be taken off the list.” 

The answer felt like a stab in the stomach, and Simon’s eyes snapped back open to stare at his boss in shock. There was no room for arguments here however, so he lowered his gaze soon enough and nodded miserably. “…I understand. Can I go home now?” He spoke, barely audible.

“Yes. I am sorry for this, Simon, but it cannot be helped.” 

He simply shook his head and turned. “I know.” He mumbled as he walked to the port back to his home, already dreading the meeting with Connie there.

\---

It was almost physically painful to be greeted by the sugary sweet voice and her hug, the kiss making him wish he could return to the headquarters right away. He was anxious, and it was a tough job keeping it under wraps. His moods were easy to read though, and Connie could easily tell things hadn’t gone well, even though she had not heard what they spoke of. 

“Oh, dear… I have a feeling things didn’t go well, did they?” Connie sighed as she walked with him back to the living room, Simon trailing beside her silently with a deep frown on his face. 

“No, not really.” He mumbled, not feeling like talking all that much for the moment. He felt tired and sick, his nerves on edge. He had no idea how he was going to act like normal around her until the Aurors got everything finished with their work. 

“I think you need a cheer-up, love. Let’s go out, just to take a walk in the woods and then return to dinner.” She smiled sweetly, leaning on his side as they sat down on the couch. “It’s not really the end of the world to quit being an Auror, you know. You’ll find other things to do, remember how good you were in Quidditch, for example? I’m just glad you’re safe here again.” She continued, but that was the wrong thing to say. It was the one thing he didn’t want to hear, the thing that pushed him into not giving a shit about his own safety, he just needed to put everything out there, have a mutual understanding of things.

“Safe?” he laughed. “At least nobody at work has been imperio-ing me on a regular basis. Can’t even be safe in my own home, for fuck’s sake.” Well, maybe that was a bit more bitter than he intended, but he really was hurt over all this, and angry. The one person he’d trusted ended up being his one unwanted link to the death eaters. Simon still had a lingering hope it was all a misunderstanding, and looked up when Connie stood in front of him, that she’d look hurt and decline his accusations. At least then they could try and work things out again. 

But she stood with a single, quiet “Oh?” Almost surprised, but not quite, as though she had been waiting for him to piece it together. “Well, I was hoping I could have spent more time with you, my dear. At least now I don’t have to fight you on the field, since you’re no longer working for our enemies.” She pulled up her sleeve, and revealed the skull sign on it, a thoughtful and slightly sad smile on her face, the sweetness all gone from her act. “It’s quite clear you won’t join me, I know you well enough for that. Shame, I did not marry you just for a simple puppet, after all. Goodbye, love. Take good care of the boys.” 

That was like twisting the knife, Simon was regretting this whole day, wishing he’d never gone to the questioning in the first place. They could still pretend at least. But now, she was leaving, and- wait, shit, she was leaving! He couldn’t let her go, the aurors were supposed to get her, and they wouldn’t be able to, if she ran off right now!

“Wait! Connie, I- I may not be an auror by name anymore, but I can’t just let you run off to harm people.” He gave a shaky look of determination at her, past the point of trying to make her stay with just words, his wand now retrieved from its safekeeping during the questioning, and pointed at her firmly.

To his surprise, she laughed.

“Oh? You won’t let me go? Cute, how you still think you can do better than me. Do you realize I’m a death eater, not the average goody-two-shoes witch? I think you don’t. “ She turned around to face him, a grin on her face as she spun her wand out and threw a quick spell at him to derail him. “Petrificus Totalus!”

He blocked it easily with a counter spell, and threw back Stupefy, which was blocked in return. Growling at her in growing anger and frustration, he tried again and again with different spells that would either bind her in place or otherwise stop her escape until the others from the headquarters got there. If they even knew about this yet. He didn’t have time to send a message, all his concentration was going to blocking her spells and throwing others in return. Even the slightest misstep could end badly. Pictures were falling off the walls, and the collected items in the room were hit by any spells that missed, while the two dueled in the center of it. 

One more spell, and he was growing frustrated with how little it was doing to her. 

One more, and he was growing distressed and tired from all this. 

One last one, and he made that unfortunate misstep, and he knew she noticed.

“Expelliarmus!” She yelled, and his wand went flying through the room, landing behind the coffee table. He threw his hands up and forward, and managed to use the surprise to throw a wandless spell at her. He wasn’t especially practiced in them, but as an auror he had to know a few of them by heart. 

It hit the mark, and she lost balance just long enough for him to make a mad dash to the coffee table to fish out his wand again. She was up quickly though, and threw a spell at him before he could get a proper grip on his wand, and his attempted blocking spell ended up blowing up pretty much at his face, knocking him back to the ground, coughing. When he looked up again, she was sitting over him, her wand pointed nicely at his throat. Before she could fire any spells out, he returned the motion, making it a checkmate of wands at each other’s throats, his teeth bared angrily. Any spell from this distance could seriously hurt the other.

She didn’t look particularly scared, and to his surprise, removed her wand from his neck, bringing it up and away. When he looked confused, his wand still pointed at her just in case, she laughed. A cruel laugh, nothing like the sweetness he’d gotten used to. 

“Well? I see no spells, love. Are you scared of actually hurting me, still?” Connie spoke, her smile for a moment returning to the overly sweet act. “I know you won’t curse me. You’re too weak of mind to hurt your own wife, aren’t you? Even in danger like this.” She got a response in the form of a growl, as he pushed his wand closer to her neck, taking a tighter grip on it, though still restless. 

“Shut up.” He spoke, wanting to tell her to fuck off, but that was exactly what he was trying to prevent. 

“Oh, dear. You really can’t do it, can you? How sweet.” She laughed, leaning over to him, forcing him to move the wand closer to his chest and away from her. “Do it.” She whispered.

He hesitated. But when she started to laugh harder at his inability to hurt her, he moved and pushed her off from him and to the floor, scrambling back to try and petrify her where she sat from a better distance. Too bad for Simon, the very next thing he saw was a wand being pointed at him, and a red bolt of light shooting from it towards him. He could faintly hear the yell of “Stupefy!” from the background before it hit and his world went dark.

\---

“-er—ate! Rennervate! Oh, gods, Simon, are you okay?” 

His sight slowly came to focus, and to his surprise the first thing Simon saw clearly was the corner of their coffee table at the edge of his vision, and the worried face of Silas, his old friend who was supposed to be working at Hogwarts right now. Behind him he could see Rosa, Silas’ adoptive mother and pretty much mother for all his friends as well, Simon included. She worked outside the school with her two nieces, so she’d likely just come to help out in case something more severe had happened, as she was fairly skilled in medical spells. 

“Sil, what the fuck?” Was the first thing to leave his mind upon waking. Not very classy, but it got a relieved smile out of his friend anyway, as he sat up with a little help from the shorter man.

“That’s exactly what I’d like to ask you, but seriously, are you okay? This place looks like you fought a whole army.” Silas answered, checking his friend over by reflex while the other looked around with a frown forming on his face. 

“…Yeah, I’m fine. Not hurt, if you’re worried about that. But I let her go, I couldn’t-“ He sighed, pausing his speech as he grew frustrated again. Silas and Rosa both shook their heads to reassure him, and the latter sat down as well to give the roughed up man a small hug. “It’s not your fault, the aurors will find them soon enough.” She spoke, and Silas nodded in confirmation.

“Them? What do you mean them?” To think of it, why was Silas here? Rosa he could understand, she checked up on them all at times, especially in stressing ones like the late days. But Silas was headmaster at the school, he couldn’t just leave without reason. Somehow, he didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“I… well, you see.” Silas started, avoiding his best friend’s gaze until he was tugged by the shoulder to look at the distraught yet determined Simon. He took a sigh and continued. “Connie visited the school about two hours ago.”

Simon pressed his hands to his face, sighing deeply as he tried not to let the cold feeling overwhelm him. He was scared, he had to admit it. “Fuck.”

“And… She took the girls with her. According to witnesses, Meenah went willingly, even eagerly, but they took Feferi by force. We made sure Sollux was fine with Mituna before coming here to check on you, they’re with their housemates now, Dessie’s looking after them for the time being and they only know the very basics, I’ll let you explain this however you wish, they’re your kids after all.”

Silas could see the point when his friend had had enough stress for one day, and he was right on time to not let him crumble onto the floor, and instead held onto him tightly as the tired and lost man vented his anxiety out through the tears and muffled sobs, sitting on the floor of his own house, which had suddenly turned from a safety haven into a broken place of distress and danger.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things better for them, at least sort of. (The Mituna in here is pre-accident for now)

”Silas, take me to the school, now. _Please._ ”

It had been his first full sentence after the fit of panicked sobbing was finally somewhat over. Simon had wanted to pass out and wake up to a better day somewhere else, but he knew the boys – his two remaining children – must be terrified out of their wits back there, even with Dessie looking after them.

He had to see them and make sure they were safe.

And that was how he found himself popping up at Silas’ office before he could properly stand up. It seemed Silas had foregone any plans of using the fireplace to travel, and straight out used his headmaster’s freedom to apparate them right there, an unusual frown on his face. Disoriented from the sudden scenery change, Simon saw Rosa appear into the fireplace across the room a moment later, quiet and tense. Normally she would have scolded Silas for being so hasty, but the look of worry on both the men’s faces made her swallow her words this time, letting Silas speak instead.

“They’re in the Hufflepuff common room, we let Dessie in just so she could watch them. Do you want us to come along, or..?” He prompted quietly, letting go of Simon’s arm that he’d been holding to apparate them together.

Simon simply shook his head, he’d like to talk to his boys alone, and preferably clear his head on the way there. Simon didn’t want to spook his kids further by being too out of it himself, that would only do harm to them all.

“I’ll come back here before leaving.” He mumbled, receiving a nod from Silas, and descended down the stairs and into the hallway.

Damn, he’d missed this place, it looked just as he remembered. Simon had thought of Hogwarts as his home back then, and leaving it permanently had felt so, so wrong. He remembered going to class with Silas and Dessie, and… Connie. They’d been friends even then, and the now stained good memories from then stung in his chest, making his frown deepen further. Any students he happened to pass seemed like they knew why he was there already, especially the ones clad in Hufflepuff’s colors. No wonder, it must have been a big thing for a death eater to visit the school, not to even mention take away two students.

Fuck, he really hoped his boys weren’t there to see Connie the way she was behaving now. He hoped they could be spared from that image for now at least. She was their mother, for fuck’s sake!

His wishes were proven unfulfilled the moment he stepped into the Hufflepuff common room, and his eyes met the sight of the two boys huddled together with the small herbology teacher. Sollux saw him first and ran over, colliding with his waist hard enough to make him stumble. The boy was far from calm, and Simon was unpleasantly reminded that he was still only eleven years old. A child of that age shouldn’t see such things from their own family members. They deserved a happy family and all the good things they could wish for.

“Dad! Mom was acting really weird and took FF and she didn’t want to go, and- and now Meenah’s gone too! What’s going on?!” The boy asked, his voice startlingly close to hysterical. Mituna stayed further back with Dessie, frowning and quietly giving his younger brother some time to calm down, simply watching though his own feelings were conflicted as well. He hadn’t seen any of it, unlike the twins he and Meenah weren’t so inseparable anymore, so all Mituna knew was hearsay from his brother and the rumors in the hallways.

Simon couldn’t help the stinging of his eyes as he crouched to hug his younger son, hoping to calm him. “I-I’ll explain in a bit, just… Breathe first, okay? I need you calm before I can talk to you and Mituna.” He stumbled over his words a little, equally nervous but trying to hide it from his sons. “Here, look, I’m not going anywhere until you two are okay. Breathe with me for a bit, alright?”

Sollux followed the example and took big gulps of air for a moment. To Simon’s relief, it seemed to calm the younger boy’s nerves a bit, and Sollux soon went from holding him in a death grip to moving back and glancing between his dad and brother with watery eyes, just barely keeping a hold of himself so he could hear the explanation. As much as Simon hated having to tell them the truth, he knew they had to know.

He just wished he could undo this all, just to make them happy again.

Mituna walked over at his prompting, and Dessie took her leave quietly, giving them a sad smile on her way out. The remaining family sat down on the couch, Simon silently thanking whatever deity was out there, that classes were in process and the common room was empty.

“So…” He started, voice wavering and an unsure look crossing his face. “Mom’s a death eater.”

Perhaps he could have said that better, at least judging by the looks on his son’s faces.  Shit.

“I-I mean- Fuck, I’ll start from the beginning. I told you about the trouble I had at work, right? The information leak.” They both nodded, showing they remembered, though both still looked confused and startled by his earlier exclamation. “Good. So, um, it wasn’t fixed like we thought it was, and I got called into questioning since they had proof against me.”

He immediately saw the boys’ faces turn pale and Mituna wasted no time in replying with a confused and startled yelp. “What?! But you’re not-“ He didn’t get much further than that before Simon shook his head and sighed, frowning.  He tugged the older boy closer to his side, making a quiet note that he was almost his height, just a bit softer allover.

“No, no, it’s not that simple. I won’t go into details now, but like I said, they had proof. Proof that suggested Connie has been using the imperius curse to get information out of me-“ He heard a gasp from the older boy at this point, but didn’t look up. Sollux had likely not learned about the unforgivable three just yet, but Simon wouldn’t put it past him to guess what his story implied. “-and then she wiped my mind with obliviate. She’s been taking the information to the other death eaters.” He looked down, his expression guilty, until he felt both the boys arms tighten around him.

“…Did you see mom after the questioning?” Sollux asked warily, blue and brown eyes flicking around nervously.

Simon nodded, and raised a hand to pat at the boy’s hair lightly to soothe him. He hated this, hated how much and how suddenly things had changed for them all.

“I went home once I was kicked out from work, and confronted her about it. We fought, she left, and apparently came here to get Meenah and Feferi to become death eaters with her. I found out about that part too late, I’m sorry...” He deliberately left out the part where Connie had knocked him unconscious, thinking the boys had enough on their minds without that thought being added into it.

They spent some time just sitting together and talking about things, about how to continue and how to possibly find the missing two girls again. A distressing sign was that Meenah had gone willingly, but their motivation was fired by the description of Sollux’s experience with Feferi, who had done her best to avoid being taken. They had to help her.

By the time the students started to return from their classes, Simon finally had to dismiss himself from the common room, not to worry everyone and cause chaos. He didn’t belong here, he was just visiting. After making sure the boys felt safe in the staff’s care, he hugged them both goodbye and walked back to Silas’ office to notify him of his leave. He hoped the other students wouldn’t hassle his sons too much about this.

Walking up the stairs back to the headmaster’s office Simon was not surprised to see Dessie added to the group that was apparently waiting for his return, busily talking about plans of all sorts to keep the school and the students safer from now on. They all turned to look at him when he entered, and seemed a bit less nervous than before. It was pleasant, Simon himself had managed to calm down a bit, and preferred to stay that way for now.

“…I think it’s best if I move somewhere else. I’ll take the boys along once holidays start.” He spoke, glancing at Silas and quietly waiting for agreement. To his relief, the shorter man nodded almost immediately, seeming to have the same idea on his mind as well.

“Yes, that’d be safest. I swear the boys will be safe here, we’ll heighten the safety measures and keep an eye on them.” Silas answered as he left Dessie’s side and moved some steps closer to Simon, picking up a piece of paper with familiar red-inked handwriting on it. “Here, I made a list of what you should keep in mind when preparing. We’ll help, of course, you just need to ask. I know you’re an auror and all, but as your friends, we’re all worried.” The last statement was confirmed by the faint smiles on Dessie and Rosa’s faces.

Silas squeezed his shoulder lightly, and Simon didn’t have the heart to correct him about his job right now, simply smiling faintly in return and nodding to confirm his promise. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, all of you.”

He left through the fireplace, vanishing into the green flames and appearing right back into his own living room. With a quiet sigh, he threw himself right onto working on the plans, not allowing himself time to dwell on the fear and anxiety just yet. He looked for new houses, smaller this time as it was just the three of them, and packed whatever he and the boys owned, leaving all Connie’s things there. If she wanted them, she’d have to get them herself. He packed any of Feferi’s important things as well, just in case.

Within the week, he had found them a new place to stay, and moved all their belongings to the new apartment, on the other side of the country. Having asked Silas for help, the two of them had set up all the protective charms and hiding spells they could think of, Silas even offering to be his secret keeper for the location of his house. He was the safest choice, unlikely to sell them out, and protected inside the castle himself, even if someone tried to force him to reveal it. Simon felt safe for the first time since the questioning, and settled in the house to wait for the boys’ semester to end, looking for any clues on the death eaters. Just because he wasn’t an auror anymore didn’t mean he had to sit and do nothing.

\----

The Winter holiday came eventually, Simon had plenty of time to unpack their things and prepare for the holidays, trying to make it as good as possible for the boys, so that the nervousness and sadness wouldn’t overpower their moods. He picked the boys up from the station and took them to their new home, showing them around and letting them choose the day’s food and activity together.

The first few days were the hardest, and even a few weeks after, it was still tough to live with just the three of them, with the knowledge of what happened to the other half of their family. But after a while, they started managing better. Gifts were exchanged on the Christmas day, and all three of them spared plenty of time for each other over the holidays. Mituna helped around the house and came up with the strangest things to show his brother when they were bored, and Sollux opened up once more, starting to demand that they all play games together, or dragged his family out to the yard so he could throw snowballs at them.

Simon made sure they kept up with their homework, but he didn’t hesitate in following either boy into their antics, occasionally doing some practical jokes on them in turn, or collecting the brothers for a cup of hot chocolate and a movie (though he always brewed himself coffee instead, even after the time Sollux didn’t notice and poured a ton of whipped cream into his mug as well, only to hear the distressed yell of his dad from the other side of the room.)

Their calm ended temporarily a few weeks into the holiday, when a letter arrived with an owl from Silas. The letter’s handwriting wasn’t his, but the note on top of the letter was written in the familiar tidy red text. Simon took it and read the note first, feeding the owl and sending it off to the other room.

_“This arrived with a note that I should give it to you. I’m not sure who sent it, it doesn’t have the sender’s name on the case, but I have a guess, so I checked it for any spells before sending it along. Please let me know if it’s anything to worry about. –Silas.”_

Simon frowned warily and set the note aside. He had a good guess who had sent this, the handwriting was a familiar cursive, and everyone he trusted knew his address. Anyone who didn’t send things straight to here, was likely someone no longer in his closest few people. And when he opened the letter, his suspicions were proved.

In tyrian pink cursive, it read;

_“Hello, Simon._

_I should have known Feferi was too much like you to be any good for me. I do not have the energy to keep forcing her to do the tiniest deeds while also training Meenah, so I’m giving you one last gift for the holidays. <3  Come get her from the train station on Monday morning, since you seem to have left our old home. I have no use for such a disappointment anymore. Keep your mudblood child, Si._

_-Connie”_

Simon stared at the letter with a shocked expression. So many things were trying to take over his mind and make his feelings surface in hope, sadness, and anger. In the end, seeing the word “mudblood” was too much for him and he let the anger take over, growling under his breath and glaring at the letter as if he could burn through it with his gaze. How dare she. It was true Simon was halfblood, his father had been a muggle, and so their children weren’t exactly pureblooded themselves, but how dare Connie use that word about her own child. He suspected that was why she hadn’t even tried taking the boys, they were too much like him in mind and morals. Feferi though, was young and easily impressionable, looking up to her sister like an idol.

But, wait.

Monday morning?

It was Monday evening now, nearing 2 o’clock already, as he checked the clock on the wall. Shit.

Checking the letter’s date once more, he saw it had been written a few days ago, confirming that the ‘Monday morning’ was indeed meant to be today.

“FUCK!” Simon yelled before he could stop himself, and in response to the questioning yelps from the other rooms, he quickly replied while tugging on his jacket and grabbing one of the smaller jackets he thought would fit Feferi well enough, just in case.  “Boys, keep the house in one piece, I’ll be right back! I have to go for a bit!” And with that, he was gone, saving time from traveling by apparating right to a corner of the London station.

He was looking around like a startled deer in the headlights, and after deciding the station was way too full for him to find anything like this, he ran to the Lost&Found point at the side, hoping to be in luck. The worker didn’t seem to notice him at first, so he knocked on the window a bit too forcefully to hide his panic.

“Hey! Have you seen a little girl, 11 years old, wandering here?” He asked hastily, feeling the cold air outside and worrying even more for the child. “H-her mother left her here, and only told me now, I’m so sorry, but I need to find her now-!“ 

He was cut off from rambling, when the worker nodded and guided him towards the hallway inside, where he could see another worker standing with the little girl, who was looking absolutely terrified and keeping a tight hold of her cat that she had managed to take along. At least she was wearing proper winter clothes, thank gods for that.

Simon all but ran to them, apologizing to the worker as he hugged Feferi tighter than ever, the cat squirming between them but settling soon enough as they gave it some space to be. The girl was sobbing in relief and cold and terror, and Simon could just barely keep a hold of himself not to start doing the same in public like this. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Fef, I only got her letter just now, how long have you been here?” He spoke even as his face was smushed into her hair, keeping her close and warm and _safe_.

“I-I’m not sure, I don’t know! She just left me h-h-here and said you’d be here…”  She answered with a shaky voice, and it sent a pang of guilt through his chest immediately.  Even if he couldn’t have known, he felt he should have been here earlier for her. Apologizing again, he stood up and held her hand while explaining the situation to the worker, so she would let them go (keeping any magical details to himself, just giving her the plain idea of what happened). She seemed worried, but content with his explanation, and told him to take her home quickly, as it had already been hours since they found her, unable to contact anyone by phone (Here, Simon made a mental note to update their communication systems a bit, they really needed a phone in their house).

He felt like his body was frozen and just starting to melt, his movement stiff and tense as he led Feferi around the corner, hiding them both from sight before disapparating them from the station and appearing back home, in front of Feferi’s very confused brothers who stared at them in a quiet shock.

The quiet didn’t last long though, as only a moment later Sollux was yelling and colliding with his twin sister, both of them hugging each other tightly and crying, the cat taking this chance to run off into the house. Mituna gave a nervous laugh and flicked his eyes towards Simon, looking more confused than ever. Simon was about to show him the letter, but then remembered the cruel words on it, and decided to keep the text to himself. “She sent Fef back to us, since she didn’t want to be a death eater. The note just came a bit late, that’s why I ran off so quickly.” He explained, and saw his oldest son relax a bit, nodding in understanding and relief. Mituna soon joined the younger kids’ hug, smooshing them both into a bear-hug and tickling them until they cried in laughter instead of sadness.

Simon didn’t want to leave Feferi out of his sight, but since the boys were looking after her now, he took the moment to make them all some hot chocolate (and a cup of coffee), since especially Feferi must still feel cold from the outside air, and all of them needed to calm their nerves somehow. There was a pause into their laughing at one point, but he didn’t have time to worry about it, as he soon heard it pick up again, only a bit less hysterical than the tickle-victim laughing had been, and soon he heard two sets of footsteps heading further into the house, and a door closed.

Mituna entered the kitchen soon after, quiet but a small smile on his face. Simon was still stirring the cocoa mixture in the pot, so he only glanced over his shoulder to see him, nodding lightly. “Fef said she was cold and Sol didn’t want to leave her, so I told them to take a warm shower. She seemed a bit better, but she’s still nervous.” The boy spoke, leaning lightly to the table.

“Good. Thanks, Mit.” Simon replied, a small smile on his face appearing as well, but it faded soon. “…I don’t know how she’s been treated in the last months, so… be careful with her. At least until she opens up more. Connie’s not as she used to be, we can’t assume she’s been kind.” He frowned, sighing.

“I know, da’. …At least she’s back here. I still miss Meenah though.” Mituna mumbled, his eyes not quite meeting Simon’s face. “But, um. I noticed something. It’s.. not good.” He quickly glanced up at Simon, but soon let his gaze fall again, as he saw the concerned look on his face.

“About Feferi?” Simon asked, hesitantly.

“…Yeah.”

They both stayed quiet for a while, Mituna stalling for time, nervous. Simon took the pause to motion for Mituna to give him the mugs, and that loosened the tension a bit between them. While pouring the cocoa into them, he nearly dropped the pot when Mituna finally spoke.

“They gave her the dark mark, dad.” He almost whispered, and jumped when the spoon his dad was holding, fell to the table and made a noise. The older man turned to him with wide eyes, shock evident in his expression. Gods, hadn’t he had enough shocks yet? Mituna soon continued, hastily speaking to get everything out. “I- uh, Sol saw too, I was tickling them and her sleeve moved up and showed it. She looked really scared about it but I said it’s okay, we don’t care if she has it, and she calmed a bit. I-I didn’t know what else to say, so I just hugged her and changed the topic.” He looked down with guilty eyes, but Simon reached to pat his shoulder, showing it was alright.

“…I’ll talk to her later, after this. You told her the truth, we don’t care if she was marked, but we have to make sure it doesn’t become a problem when school picks up again.” Mituna could hear the frown from his dad’s voice. But Simon was also relieved his son was able to settle the situation so quickly and well, even making them laugh again afterwards. He felt proud, as he gave Mituna two of the mugs and walked with him to the living room to wait on the twins. That evening was calm and quiet, and he couldn’t help but notice how Feferi flinched away from everyone as a first reflex, and seemed a bit distant most of the time.

He spoke with Feferi before she went to sleep, promising her she was safe now, and asking about the mark. She didn’t tell him much, seeming still too scared to talk about it, but she did tell him she didn’t want the mark. He promised her the same as Mituna had, that her family did not mind the mark, she was still herself and still a good person with it. Like he thought, she was worried about her return to school, and while he could not give her a foolproof answer, he did promise to do all he could to keep her from trouble, and reminded her that her brothers would be around the whole time. She seemed content with his answer once he offered to talk to Silas about it as well, as he had to report to the headmaster about her return in any case.

Soon enough she was looking tired enough to doze off right there, and so he let her go to sleep with her brother, the two even more inseparable now than they had been before. It was no surprise, honestly.

“Sleep well, both of you. Tomorrow we’ll make a nice day together.” He made sure they were comfortable, and kissed both their heads, even though they squirmed and laughed a bit sleepily about it. Mituna was still awake, so the two spent the rest of the late evening together, talking and just enjoying each other’s company. Later, once the boy was asleep, he’d write to Silas, letting him know what had happened. There was still a few weeks of holiday left, they had time to plan and let Feferi rest and recharge.

And… Ah, he should really buy some cat food, too.


End file.
